Locking means



- D 6, 1932. F. E. New; 6

LOCKING MEANS v Filed June 2, 1951 gIV;NTOR

Patented Dec. 1932 UNITED STATES FRANK E. NODINE, OF MEADVILLE, SYLVANIA LOCKING MEANS s ncauon med um; 2, 1931., Serial No. 541,556.

This invention relates broadly to interlock ing clasps and associated fasteners such as are disclosed in British Patent No. 14,358 of June 19, 1912; and in particular'to a locking device which has as its purpose the prevention of accidental displacement of the apparel where there are opposed edges of an opening which must be securely closed at others. These requirements have demonstrated the necessity of providing a locking means which will insure the c lasps remaining in engagement, but which may at the same time be easily rendered inoperativeas a lock whenit becomes desirable or necessary to dis engage the clasps preparatory to spreading the opposed edges carrying the clasps.

To meet this need, locking devices of various types have been devised, the ordinary 3 kind consisting ofsuppleme-ntal members attached to a slide fastener and engageable' V with interlocking clasp elements. WVith such a lock it is necessary for the operator of the device to specially manually actuate such locking means in order to. positively engage the clasps when the need for locking arises, and conversely, to specially release the lock when the need for unlocking arises.

Some of the obvious objections to previous devices of thissort lie in the extra manipulation required to makethem effective, the time consumed in so doing, and the possibility of the operators forgetting to actuate the locking means; the consequences of such omission vary of course with a particular sitnation.

An object of this inventionis to provide a simple, positive, and efiective, automatic locking means.

Another object is to provide a device which times, and readily and "quickly opened at similar to Figure 1 showing a portion of the adjacent or corresponding elements of'the by elimination-of separately moving parts, will effect economy in construction and yet which will retain all the advantages of the more complicated locking devices now in use.

A. further object to provide a locking means which'automatic'ally disengages itself when it is necessary toopen or unfasten the article or garment to which thefastener is 'attached, thereby saving' time and trouble in so opening said article or removing said gar ment. s

These and other objects made apparent throughoutthe further description of my invention are achieved by means of my locking device, which I shall now explain in connection with the drawing herein, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmental plan view illustrating an embodiment of my invention and showing some ofthe locking clasp elements in interlocked position, and others in a disengaged position. i

Fig. 2 is a fragmental end view in. perspective of the embodiment of Figure 1.

F igq3 is a plan view of an embodiment slide fastenerbroken away and the locking means in detail. v

Fig. {is a plan view, of a detail taken along line'IV IV of Figure 2; and

Fig. 5 is a view somewhat similar to Figure 4, but showing a section in perspective.

Referring to the drawing, numerals land 1 represent tapes or stringers upon which an opposed series of fastener elements 3 and 3' are respectively assembled or mounted. For convenience in interlocking anddisen gaging these elements 3 and 3, a 'slide fastener 5 is mounted for cooperative associ- KtIOII WItlI each assembled ser es of them. As the fastener, 55 1s movedm one direction,

it in turn, successively moves opposite ele- -ments of the opposed assembl1esj3 and 3' into cooperative relationship, in'order'that opposed assemblies interlock and thereby fasten-edges of an opening together. If the slider 5 is moved in the opposite direction, the cooperating elements of the two a'ssem bliesor series are successively moved out of engagement, each element of one assembly'is separated from each element of the other, and

the edges of the opening will be released and thus may be separated without any interfer-- ence by the locking or fastening means.

It is I now apparent that any spreading strain between the stringers of the openings 1 and 1 that ori inates above the point or points to which t e slide fastener has closed the openings, as at 1a for example, will tend to move the slider backwards; and, this 510- tion, if not arrested, will progressively 'disengage the fa'stenerelements 3 and 3' as above explained. To prevent thefastener elements from becoming disengaged except when de fastener elements.

sired, I have devised anovel and effective means or method for lockingthe slider to the Alithon h the fastener .5 may be readily builtup rom a plurality of plates imposed upon each other, yet in the illustrative embodiment, a single plate having a neck portion 9 has been employed. This plate may be firet stamped out and thenbent backwardly over itself at the nec k spacing portion 9 to form opposed and spaced parallel portions or faces. These faces. of the fastener plate 5 may be drilled out ,as at 12 as indicated in Figures 4 and 5 to receive a lug or rivet 10 (see Fig. 2) inorderfthat they will portin be positively held and reinforced in position with respect to each other; the lug 10 may. also act as an element guide, supplemental to the neck 'ortion 9.

Since t s upper and lower portions .of the fastenerplate 5jare substantiallyalikein design with the exceptionthat the upper por tion or face is provided with a ring 8 for supsome suitable form of pull or hand grip; igs. 4 and 5, although actually showmg the lowerportion, substantially show. the upper portion thereof. 'As seen from Figs.

I 2 to 5 inclusive, the upper and lowerportions of the plates of the slidefa'stener 5 are provided with longitudinally extending bent over or vrelatively short flanged edges Hand 11', respectively, in order to form guidewaysfor engaging side ends or faces of the fastener assemblies 3 and 3'. Due to thespacing between "these upper and lower flanges 11 and 11 respectively, the stringers 1' and 1' are permitted to freely pass therethrough while the element assemblies 3 and 3 are being guided therethroughi In order toprevent the sl1de'5 from being.

moved rearvvardly and thus from disengaging the fastener. elements 3 and 3 when'a spreading strain is appliedto stringers 1 and 1. at a point beyond the slider as at 1a, the

. front ends of each of the flanges of the upper and lower portions of the slide plate 5 may be provided with In or toothlike prong'members 6 and 6, whic are inwardly flared or bent to project a shortudistance from the flanges 11 and 11" at right angles thereto into the path of an adjacent guideway and in gitudinally) the direction of the opposite'flange of the slider in order that each may be readily receivable between the individual elements of.

each of the assemblies 3 and 3. 7

As is seen, the inner face of each toothlike prong 6 and 6', as explained above, is substantially at right angles to the flanges 11 and 11 and thus, taken longitudinally of the assembly, forms'a positive engaging surface for clasping against, a remote or near wideface portion of one of the. fastener elements (see Fig. 3) when it has been received there-' between, and taken laterally, lies adjacent an outwardly extending end portion, where-. 'byrearward movement of the sliding element 5, independentof manual operationthereof, is positivelyjprevented. Theouter faceof the locking portions orprongs 6 and 6. is somewhat rounded, convexly and inwardly curved, or beveled to permit the slider 5 to be readily'movedfo'rwardlyand cause the remaining fastener elements tobe moved into clasping' engagement. These prongs 6 and 6, pro ecting inwardly fr m the sidesof plate 5, maybe termed forwardly closed and rearwardly open angle'portions .oftheir respective flanges 11 and 11 Thus, when the stringers 1 or 1 are free from strain, the

slider may be moved in either direction. The, strain on the stringersas seen from Fig. 3

terminating in abody portion of, outwardly d verging width. The flanges '11 and 11 of the neck and body portions are both planar, but the flanges of the "neck are oppositely spaced in a parallel, relation, while the flanges I of the body are oppositely spaced and smoothly inclined 'outwardlyto a point adj acent' one end of the slider. The body portion of the slider 5' accomplishes thefunction of sliding and cl'asping togetherthe elements of adjacent stringersfalthough the neck portion may also accomplish such'function to a more limited extent, yet its chief function is holdingtogether clasped remote or near elements of theassembly (takenlondrawing, and.

ice

As shown, the extreme ends of the flanges 11 and/or 11 of'the body portion of slider 5 are bent inwardly-a substantial distance to form the prongs 6 andfi. 'As a result, the 'outsideends of the elements 3 and 3' (taken transversely of the assembly) abut against andtravelalong' the flanges 11 and 11', parallel thereto, once'the prongs 6 and 6' have been cleared (since the'elements are mounted on flexible stringers), The prongs 6 and 6' thus serve to initially shove the spread stringers towardeach other and to'then lock. --y

immediate elements against a spreading force.

Although, as in Figs. 2 and 4, I have shown fastening prongs 6 and 6 positioned at the I front ends of both flanges 11 and 11' of the tion at one end of the guide flange 11' of anup er portion of the fastener and the one end of one opposite flange 11 of the lower portion of the fastener serves to provide the necessary locking protection,

In operation my device works substantially as follows: Assume that the slider has been moved to a point as indicated in Figure 3, in such a manner that a portion of the fastener elements are in engagement and the remaining portions are out of engagement. When in this position, in an ordinary fastener, if a spreading pressure or strain is exerted at point 10 of Figure 1, the tendency will be to force the slider to slide backwardly over the element assemblies 3 and 3, thereby disengaging them in the manner previously described when the pull 4 is manually operated. With my invention such action is rendered impossible as the strain will move stringers 1 and 1 and their associated assemblies 3 and 3 toward the flanged edges or prongs or corners 6 and 6 of the slider in such manner that the upper and lower prongs will move between the spacing of two of the fastener elements of a given assembly and against the side or outer end face thereof to o halt rearward movement of the slider and to prevent further displacement of the fastener elements. This condition is maintained as long as the strain is present, and may be said to have been automatically brought about by the very forces which produce the strain. The slider 5 can be quickly unlocked however, by simply moving it in the proper direction in the usual manner in that the engagement between the locking prongs 6 and 6 and associated elements ofthe assemblies 3 and 3 is occasioned only when one attempts to unlock the assemblies independently of the slider. The outer portion of each prong is curved so that it may be readily knocked out of looking position by an adjacentv front element when the slider 5 is moved forwardly by the pull 8. As a result, the elements 3and 3' are moved back to a normal position and the slider 5 may be moved either forwardly or rearwardly without any difficulty.

My simple locking means with its ratchet- -like action fills present needs for such a means, and in addition, presents features of economy and efficiency superior to anything 68 now used in connection with such fasteners.

This device in no way interferes with the normal operation of the slider, but assoon as an abnormal condition arises, immediately becomes effective to accomplish the purpose for which it was intended,

While I have described but one embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent that many changes, modifications, substitutions, additions, and omissions or combinations thereof may be made in this device without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as indicated in the appended claims.

Vhat I claim as new and desire to see re by Letters Patent is:

1. In a slide fastener including a plurality of adj acent interlocking assemblies, the combination of a slider movably mounted on said adjacent assemblies for locking and unlocking said assemblies with respect to each other, said slider having an upper and lower portion whose side edges are flanged inwardly therefrom for forming a guideway for elements of the assemblies, said flanged edges having a planar guideway outline along their entire length, a prong extending inwardly from a front end of each portion adjacent the prong of the other portion of said slider for locking said slider against an unlocking movement produced by an opening strain upon the assemblies that is independent of manual operation of said slider.

2. In a slide fastener including a plurality of adjacent interlocking assemblies, the combination of a slider movably mounted on said assemblies for locking and unlocking them with respect to each other, said slider having upper and lower portions forming guideways for elements of said assemblies, said upper and lower portions having side edges flan ed inwardly towards each other for limiting s1de travel of the elements of said assemblies, said portions having a neck ort-ion terminatin in a bod portion, the, flhnges of said nee portion eing in spaced and parallel relation with respect to each other for holding the elements of assemblies in a locked position and permitting them to slide :therebetween while so locked, the sides of the flanged edges of said body portion inclining outwardly from the plane of the sides of the flanges of said neck portion and forming planar surfaces terminating in a prong extending inwardly into the path of the element guideway, said prong having an outwardly convex surface and having an inner surface substantially at right angles to the surface of an adjacent flange, so that said body portion will move separated assemblies towards each other, that said prong will in tially move the assemblies toward each other, and so that said slider will be positively locked against a spreading movement of elements of the assemblies. I p

3. In a slide fastener includingza plurality 139 of adjacent interlocking assemblies, said assemblies at one end terminating in a closely.

grouped set of elements, the combination of a slider movably mounted on said assemblies for locking and unlocking them with respect to each other, said slider having upper and lower portions provided with flanged edges extending inwardly towards each other and forming a guideway for the elements of the assembly, said slider including a neck portion having spaced and parallel side flanges and terminating in a body portion having s aced and planar and outwardly diverging slde flanges, said body portion having a prong extending from one of its side flanges near the forwardly extending end thereof, said prong being positioned at right angles to its respective flangeand having an outer face curved inwardly toward the guideway of said body portion, so that the remote ends of the elements of the assembly (taken transversely thereof) will be initially moved from a spread position towards a closed position by said prong when said slider is moved towards a closed position, that the remote ends of said elements will abut against and slide along parallel to the flanges of said neck and body portions of said slider, and so that said slider will be positively locked in position against an opening or spreading strain upon the assembly by an abutment of the inner face of said prong upon a remote face 01": an elemerit taken transversely of the assembly.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 29th day of May, 1931 FRANK E. NODINE. 

